The Pleasures of Riot

At his new blog at Psychology Today, Dalrymple responds to an older post by another psychiatrist, Dr. Ken Eisold, that seeks to explain rioters:

In his article, Dr Eisold makes reference both to the social and economic frustrations of the rioters and to the events in Tiananmen Square. But demonstrations are not riots, though they can be turned into such by extremists, and perhaps by the provocation of the authorities. Nor is it true that every frustration is justified, or that it explains, let alone justifies, riotous and destructive conduct. If frustration explained riots, we would all be rioters. But even in riot-torn areas, rioting is not universal.